Awards of “Social Innovation. Community 4.0 Competition”

Six S4 students participated in the “Social Innovation. Community 4.0 Competition” held by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS).  The Ying Wa STEM Team won the Champion and the Innovative Design Award.  The team was offered the opportunity to visit social innovation startups in Paris in Summer 2019.

The competition used Central & Western (C&W) District as a pilot and required participating teams to gain insight into community issues and develop innovative solutions.  Due to the growing elderly population and the existence of long and steep staircases in the C&W District, our team designed and built the prototype, ‘WE Community’ to put the situation at ease.  ‘WE Community’ is a system which consists of ‘Walkapanel’ and ‘E-steps’.   The ‘Walkapanel’ is a moving footplate that brings the elderly up the stairs.  It is small and simple, which can be installed along narrow staircases where the installation of escalators is not feasible.  ‘E-steps’ are tiles designed to be paved on the stairs to transform kinetic energy to electrical energy when people walk on the stairs.  The electrical energy generated will be stored and used for the operation of the ‘Walkapanel’. The combination of these two innovative and self-sufficient designs targets at promoting the utilization of alternative energy and building a cohesive community.

Participants: Tai Cheuk Wing (4B), Au Tsz Ching (4D), Lee Chau Yee  (4D), Liu Tsz Lok Dorcas (4D), Tse Yuen Shan (4D), Lam Hiu Yu (4E)